Notes

25] Horsel: the Hörselberg in Thuringia, where the legendary minnesinger in the German ballad saw Venus, with whom he spent seven years in a cave. Later, repenting his love, he left to seek forgiveness from the Pope, who refused his request with the remark that his staff would sooner break into flowers as the minnesinger's loves could be pardoned. Three days afterward, the staff flowered, but the minnesinger had by then returned to Venus. This was the subject of Wagner's Tannhäuser. Back to Line